Cardinal George Pell’s committal hearing has reopened to the public and the media after the complainants finished giving their evidence.

A security guard has been stationed by the door to court room 22 at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for the past 10 days to ensure no one but Cardinal Pell, his support person, legal team, prosecutors and a magistrate made it inside.

Over five days, multiple complainants gave their evidence via video link before being cross-examined by the 76-year-old’s defence barrister, Robert Richter QC.

It is standard practice for complainants in cases involving sexual offence charges to give their evidence remotely to a court closed to the media and public.

The committal hearing is expected to run for another fortnight in open court as Cardinal Pell fights historical sexual offence charges.

The charges haven’t been released to the media and no other details of the case can be reported for legal reasons.

It’s expected up to 50 witnesses will have given evidence when the committal hearing concludes and magistrate Belinda Wallington rules on whether there’s enough evidence for Cardinal Pell to stand trial.

If she sends the case to trial, he will be required to enter a plea to the charges.